Once a non-profit founder has surveyed the non-profit landscape and found a legitimate need, recruited an initial board, created business and fundraising plans, and scraped together some start-up funding, he or she is ready to proceed. In Arizona, it usually makes the most sense to form the entity as an Arizona non-profit corporation. The steps required to form a nonprofit in Arizona are covered.
Daily Dose of Nonprofit Law
Monthly Archives: September 2009
Part I: Starting a Nonprofit in Arizona – Laying the Groundwork
I receive several calls a week from people who want to start a new non-profit. Looking back on my legal career, I realize that many of the tax-exempt organizations I helped to create early on never got off the ground. Today, I consider it part of my responsibility to the potential new client and to the sector to educate would be founders on the realities of the marketplace. What follows is a walk through the typical discussion that I have with potential founders.
In Honor of the Weekend – Recommended Foreign Film List
In honor of the weekend, I thought I would post a list of foreign films of the last few years recommended to me by my friend Claudia Work. Claudia is a fellow lawyer and an organizer of the Scottsdale International Film Festival, so she knows what she’s talking about. The festival is October 2-6. Hope [...]
Gift Restrictions – Permanent Endowment = Infinity and Beyond
Most non-profits understand that if a fund is a permanent endowment, the principal must be preserved in perpetuity. Still, in my practice and in the ASU Lodestar Center course I teach on non-profit law, I am often surprised by how little some fundraising professionals understand about the mechanics of gift restrictions – particularly the implications of permanent restrictions [...]
Proposal to Abolish the Rebuttable Presumption
The Chronicle of Philanthropy reports that Sen. Grassley is once again attempting to change the rules that impact how certain exempt organizations set executive compensation. This time, Sen. Grassley wants to do away with the “rebuttable presumption process” that exempt entities have been relying on to provide some measure of assurance that their compensation decisions will not trigger intermediate sanctions.
What is A Charity Lawyer?
Since launching CharityLawyer, several of you have asked what, exactly, is charity law and what does a charity lawyer do? I’m glad you asked.
Nonprofit and charity law is an astonishingly diverse and eclectic area of the law that touches on all aspects of general business law with a particular emphasis on the federal tax laws and state statutes that are exclusive to nonprofits.
Quick Tips for Setting Nonprofit Executive Compensation
To ensure its decisions will stand up to the scrutiny of the media, regulators, and donors, and protect the employee as well as the board from personal liability, nonprofits that employ executive staff should consider implementing practices and procedures that ensure its executive compensation procedures are thorough, well-documented, and free of conflicts of interest.
More Congressional Outrage Over Nonprofit Executive Compensation
As evidenced by the recent media coverage of the salaries paid to CEOs of four nonprofits that contract with the government to deliver U.S. foreign aid, nonprofit executive compensation continues to be an area of keen interest for the media and for key members of Congress.
IRS Issues Guidelines for Processing Exemption Applications
The I.R.S. has made the guidelines it provides to its exempt organization determination specialists for processing tax exemption applications publicly available.
Top 10 Nonprofit Governance Mistakes (From a Lawyer’s Perspective)
Failing to Understand Fiduciary Duties. When you volunteer to serve as a director or officer of a nonprofit, you accept the responsibility to act with the duties of good faith, due care and loyalty. You also accept the potential liability for failing to fulfill those duties. Increased scrutiny from the I.R.S., Congress, state attorneys general, the Department of Justice, donors and the media require vigilance at every step. It is no longer sufficient to rubber stamp committee or staff recommendations or to simply “abstain” from dicey decisions. Today, board service comes with real responsibilities and real consequences for those that fail to live up to them.
